In our series Icons, we profile the individuals behind a number of the biggest beauty images of all time, looking back on their work and forward towards their enduring influence and legacy

Rare is the make-up artist who’s self-taught and immediately begins working with a number of the most photographed faces on this planet. For Sandy Linter, a Staten Island native, her story began in 1972 on Madison Avenue in Manhattan. Fresh off of an era of miniskirts and Twiggy-style lashes, the young 24-year-old began working in a hair salon painting the faces of Barbara Walters and Jackie Kennedy Onassis, a couple of of her very first clients.

For those who follow a certain beauty circle, you’ve likely seen Linter’s stunning work on Instagram, where she currently is archiving over 40 years of make-up which frequently gets endlessly regrammed. From the glitzed and glazed lips and cheekbones of Diana Ross and Jerry Hall at Studio 54 to the stunning looks of Brooke Shields, her feed has change into a visible history of a number of the most profound and appears from the 70s onwards – the equivalent of gazing at an aesthetic time capsule of the glamour of beauty throughout the ages.

In 1979, Linter released Disco Beauty: Nighttime Make-up, her most iconic book so far, which a lot of her fans know her by. Throughout the same time, she began working with the world’s most elite photographers, from Irving Penn to Richard Avedon. Because the make-up artist behind shoots drenched in color and saturated in beauty ecstasy from Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar within the 70s and 80s, she also beautified Brooke Shields, Anjelica Huston, Christie Brinkley, Gia and more. 

Today, the 72-year-old continues to do make-up on a each day basis and has established herself as one in every of the foremost experts in beauty for girls of all ages, having published the book The Makeup Wakeup: Revitalizing Your Have a look at Any Age. Here, Linter talks about her Studio 54 days and the largest differences between the make-up of today versus the disco days.

Do you remember the primary time you were aware of your individual appearance? 

Sandy Linter: I used to be, I need to say, 11 years old, I lived on Staten Island and I shoplifted a tube of lipstick. I picked up a tube and put it on… My sister is a bit older than me, and my sister’s friend said, ‘Oh, you’re going to be really good looking whenever you become older.’

That’s the facility of make-up. I didn’t really think that then, but once I look back on it, perhaps that planted a bit seed. There have been other little things, my mum read each magazine about beauty and fashion within the 60s and I used to get Seventeen magazine on a regular basis. It was a giant glossy magazine, not the way in which it’s today. The models who worked for Seventeen magazine didn’t attempt to seem like teenagers. They were attempting to look 60s: stuffed with eyelashes, heavy eyeliner, pancake make-up, pale lipstick.

You’re self-taught. How did you practice make-up?

Sandy Linter: By the point I used to be 15, I could do good make-up on myself. My mum asked me if I’d make her up before she went to work every morning. And I did. She was beautiful, very elegant. It was all the time just a really joyful, powerful thing and I could do it well. I came upon that I could just copy models’ looks and I’d all the time do it on my family and friends. That’s what every make-up artist does. 

I got married at 21. My husband, very smart, said because I wasn’t doing anything, ‘You like make-up, why don’t you go to beauty school?’ So I went to beauty school at Wilfred Beauty Academy on Broadway 1969 to get a certificate that allowed me to work in a hair salon. I went to Bloomingdale’s and I got a part-time job behind the counter and I used to be in heaven. I loved working in Bloomingdale’s behind the counter. I never did any of the money register transactions, I just made up individuals who were walking by and regarded myself a make-up artist. Sooner or later I said to the owner of the make-up company Mr Kenneth, who owned a wonderful hair salon on Madison and 54th, ‘I’d like to be just right for you sooner or later if you’ve gotten a gap.’ He hired me.

Growing up in Staten Island, was there a particular beauty aesthetic?

Sandy Linter: I moved to Manhattan once I was 17 so I only learn about beauty in Latest York. I don’t really learn about the rest. Each person wore miniskirts and false eyelashes, I don’t care in case you were old, young, fat, skinny, across the board and it was an amazing look. That was Latest York City in 1968.

What were your favourite products to make use of?

Sandy Linter: Covergirl foundation because I had problems across my face. I can still remember the smell of my foundation. If you should know the largest difference in the way in which they sell make-up now and the way in which they sold it back then, it’s that they never really told you easy methods to take it off. So I only understood easy methods to put it on. If I had breakouts, I actually didn’t understand easy methods to take excellent care of my skin. There was no SPF in any respect in those days, none in make-up until perhaps the early 80s.

Tell us about a few of your very first clients.

Sandy Linter: My first clients were Barbara Walters, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, all of the society ladies, at 24. I never networked, I didn’t need to because there have been no make-up artists once I began. It was stuffed with adventure and I worked with amazing people. One in every of the ladies that I made up is Shirley Lord, the sweetness editor of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. She did a two-page story about me in Vogue magazine – she opened up the door. You don’t earn money whenever you work for magazines, they pay you want $200 a day or something like that. I can truthfully remember turning away high-paying jobs because I desired to work for Deborah Turbeville.

Were the society women of Latest York open to experimental make-up?

Sandy Linter: Jackie was. I distinctly remember her face and I noticed that her eyes were very wide set. I had this beautiful shadow by Stendhal (I don’t think they’re in business anymore) and it was a wine color, which was quite recent on the time. I made the inner corners of her eyes very dark to bring them closer together and I wrote down every thing on a face chart. She will need to have loved the make-up because I went to Bloomingdale’s sooner or later the following week and one in every of the ladies behind the Stendhal counters said that Mrs Onassis had her maid are available, and she or he bought every thing you advisable. I didn’t really start and work myself up into the job. I used to be just there in the appropriate place at the appropriate time. 

You were one in every of the primary editorial make-up artists on the time. Where were you taking inspiration from?

Sandy Linter: Only Europe. I had all of the European magazines they usually were well ahead of us. So far as fashion, make-up, and models went, my dream was to go to Europe and assist Barbara Daly, who in my eyes was the best make-up artist that ever lived. But I used to be too busy. I used to be working day-after-day. I used to be never in a position to be an assistant, which I regret because there are 1000 things I don’t know. 

Has there been one person who’s been very influential in your profession or a mentor? 

Sandy Linter: No I wish. I don’t take heed to anybody and I didn’t know easy methods to network. I all the time worked in a hair salon because I enjoy making up real women in addition to actresses and models. I kept myself all the time busy, but imagine me, when Kevyn Aucoin, Francois Nars and all those guys got here to town, I used to be nowhere. But I had an agent, Kramer and Kramer, and I left that agent to go together with Elizabeth Watson who represented her husband Albert Watson. He’s a genius photographer and I worked with him for 20 years. So I even have lots of editorial work, great memories and trips. We went to India with Patti Hansen in 1977 and he also took probably the most beautiful pictures for my book Disco Beauty in 1978. 

You’ve also change into an authority when it comes to doing make-up for older women. How did that occur?

Sandy Linter: I started off as a young hot make-up artist, then I became the club kid at Studio 54. But what you’ve gotten to do as you become older, at the least it worked for me, is just keep going with the flow. Someone said ‘You must do that job for Ladies Home Journal.’ It was for girls over 40 and back then, it was probably 1990, nobody over 40 was that focused on make-up. I loved it.

In 2008, I had a Lancôme contract that was alleged to be for 3 years and turned out to be eight. I used to be 58 years old. I used to be also the ‘Beauty at Every Age’ expert for eight years, it’s pretty unusual to get a contract at 58. I’m 72, I still work, and I believe, if I’m not mistaken, I’m probably the longest working person in make-up. The thing is, I still love what I do. I’m still amazed by that really. It’s just not a tedious job, day-after-day is different. The individuals are all the time nice. Every so often you would possibly get a nasty job that you simply’re not comfortable with nevertheless it really doesn’t occur often. 

Do you’re thinking that the sweetness industry immediately is embracing older women greater than it has in the past? 

Sandy Linter: Oh yes. Because all those girls from that point period are old now they usually’re still relevant. Everyone seems to be taking note of women over 50 and 40 now. I discovered that to be my area of interest and I made sure I could do their make-up higher than anyone else. My friends say women over 50 don’t wear eye shadow through the day, and I’m like ‘who makes up these items?’ Doing no make-up in any respect just doesn’t work. 

How did you choose to begin your Instagram archive, which now has a cult following?

Sandy Linter: In 2013, someone turned me on to Instagram and I assumed I can do that. That is fun and I gravitate towards things that I enjoy. I’ve got all these albums and a file of tear sheets and it’s making me so comfortable to share it with people.

Working with icons like Christie Brinkley and Diana Ross, did you learn anything from those women specifically whenever you were doing their make-up?

Sandy Linter:  Diana Ross was very special. I did two or three shoots along with her and what I learned was her particular personality when she first got here within the room. It was 1984, late at night, she got here in alone but she trusted the photographer. That’s what Diana does and that’s what I learned. If those women trust the photographer, the day will likely be a pleasure. When Diana was on set, she had a mirror and she or he would check her poses in it. She was a perfectionist. 

Raquel Welch was a special nature. She held a bit mirror in her hand while I used to be doing her make-up. It was a 3 or 4 day shoot for Playboy and I’m exhausted by the tip because I’m being watched so closely and she or he never said anything or tried to vary anything. It’s weird and never freeing, you don’t feel loose. She said, at the tip, ‘Thanks Sandy. I learned lots from watching you do my make-up.’ So she wasn’t watching me to be certain I used to be being careful, she was watching me because she desired to see how I did a certain thing. The hairdresser desired to exit to Studio 54 and I said let’s go. She overheard us discussing it and invited herself to return over. So we went, but once I got contained in the club I just disappeared.

If you were working with Richard Avedon and Irving Penn, what did you study your craft and the way in which make-up translates in photos?

Sandy Linter: I used to be so lucky. I began working with each photographers and Chris von Wangenheim instantly. I learned more from working with Chris because he never told me what to do but I knew that sometimes he would really like an extreme make-up look and I did extreme make-up for him. Richard Avedon: every thing was all the time more beautiful than what you saw. I learned lots from working with Francesco Scavullo who also had beautiful lighting. For those who made a mistake, you can see it, so it glorified make-up. Irving Penn is a bit bit different. He would play with light lots and as he had already been a fashion photographer for 40 years, he didn’t give a shit about fashion photography anymore. He was into other things so he would play with the lighting and sometimes your make-up didn’t really look the way in which you wanted it to. 

Going back to the times of disco beauty, was there one important look or product you lived by during those days?

Sandy Linter: Every little thing was so recent in those days. It was like that they had just invented the color pink. I used pink on the eyes, cheeks and lip. Fuchsia got here in extremely popular, warm shades that weren’t available before the late 70s. It was fun to play with lots and numerous color. Once we got into the late 70s, early 80s, it was just as vivid as you may get; anything green, blue, pink. There was no correctional make-up essential. You didn’t need to worry like, ‘Her nose is simply too big, let me contour it or give her some contour under the cheek or the chin.’

For those who had to decide on three profession highlights, what would you say they’ve been?

Sandy Linter: My first can be my first Vogue cover. I also think it’s been a highlight of my profession working with Albert Watson doing Disco Beauty. The third can be the shock of getting that contract with Lancôme once I was 58 years old, and realising that not only did I feel it was alright to be 58, and be a beauty expert, but other people thought so too.

Where do you discover inspiration today? Do you ever feel completely sick of doing make-up? 

Sandy Linter: No, I don’t. It’s the those that interest me. People who find themselves fascinating, interesting, and like the way in which I do their make-up. In order that makes you’re feeling good. It’s a really gratifying profession. Individuals are gracious to you, comfortable that you simply’re there, they usually trust you. 

Will you ever stop doing make-up? 

Sandy Linter:  Well, eventually I even have to stop. I keep pondering that is the last 12 months. I’m going to work and I’m like, ‘Individuals are crazy.’ But meanwhile, I even have a booking in April for an enormous wedding in Florida. After which I believe, well, yeah, I even have to stop. I never really gave it a date. I assume that’s the trick: to maintain on going. I’m reading this book by Maye Musk called A Woman Makes a Plan and she or he’s 71. It’s very interesting because she’s talking a couple of plan but I’m the full opposite of her. I never made a plan so what works for me may not work for other people.